Only vaguely related to peer pressures or free will theology, originality cultism, famegrabbing, or group fanaticism on the fly, when on the offensive here we have the more classical understanding of the mercenary. And it's no picnic on Mars when on the defensive one is the subject of a forced entry causing all sorts of judgements to be sowed from every imaginable angle of approach and retreat. Emotions rule the turf. All systems of thought when filtered through the mesh of victimization are watermarked with the presence of fear and loss. Recovery is nearly impossible without irrationality based on systems of forgiveness on the far left hand of moral correctness and retribution on the far right hand of moral turpitude. Either path is fraught with misgiving.

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Human foilbles and idiosyncracies aren't the only variables in this equation to determine what measure of an individual's judgement is his own, and what is thrust upon him by the world in which he finds himself a mere stranger, conqueror, or casualty. There is the whole of zoology, plus geographic and meteorological surprise to factor into the mix. Invaders from within and without no doubt force us into considerations we might otherwise prefer to reject as foreign to our best interests and resolve.

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Thusly, we make decisions and form judgements based upon these considerations of relative discomfort to ourselves and our human group, choices between the lesser of evils, for the greater good rather than the singular splendor or expression of freedom. We choose in some situations behavior we ordinarily reject as inhumane and unworthy of a rational life-affirming psychology. We embrace good wars, police forces, and pesticides to rid ourselves of unwanted aggression. We are influenced by these aggressions and we are influenced further as we register our reactions in thwarting this aggression, and are indubitably forever changed.

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As Edmund Burke put it, "When bad men combine, the good must associate; else they will fall one by one, an unpitied sacrifice in a contempible struggle." There is not long much safety in the contemplative, for shadowing every idea is its opponent as freedom rings not so much in celebration as in warning. The march of the human mind is a treacherously slow navigation over quaking mountains and across stormy seas and nothing speeds the course but time itself, as we come to understand that peace is individual while joy is collective. --GT